The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) isn’t set to expire until after the 2026 season, but Major League Baseball and the Players Association (MLBPA) are seemingly heading toward contentious negotiations when the time comes and a likely lockout.
Speculation over a potential MLB salary cap being implemented has already picked up, with several team owners calling for one in part to combat the Los Angeles Dodgers’ aggressive spending in free agency.
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark has gone on the record several times to suggest the union won’t be receptive to any salary cap proposals in the next round of CBA talks.
While recently speaking with reporters, Clark reiterated the union’s stance that a salary cap would do more harm than good for baseball, via Jorge Castillo of ESPN.com:
“A cap is not about any partnership,” Clark said. “A cap is not about growing the game. That’s not what a cap is about. As has been offered publicly, a cap is about franchise values and profits. That’s what a cap is about.
“If there are ways that we need to improve the existing system, to polish some of the rough edges that otherwise exist, we have made proposals to do that. We will continue to make proposals to do that and believe that that’s the best way to go.”
Clark is against a salary cap in baseball for many reasons, but mostly because it would limit a player’s earning potential:
“A salary cap, historically, has limited contract guarantees associated,” Clark said. “Literally, [it] pits one player against another, and [that] is often what we share with players as the definitive noncompetitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about a fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion. That’s what a salary cap is.
“And, so, we don’t know what it is they’re going to propose. We know what it is they’re saying they’re interested in. We’ll get in the room, and we’ll see what it is they propose.”
MLB is the only major North American professional sports league without a salary cap or floor. However, outspending teams doesn’t necessary correlate to success.
Over the last 25 years, the team with the largest payroll in baseball has won the World Series just four times.
If the incorporation of a salary cap ends up being a sticking point for team owners, MLB could face its longest lockout since the 1994-1995 strike, which lasted 232 days.
Rob Manfred open to MLB salary cap alternatives
Although indications are team owners will include a salary cap in their CBA negotiations with the union, commissioner Rob Manfred denied pushing one on players and said he is not fully sold on the system being necessary.
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